Castlevania Tales: Blood of the Vampire Hunter
by victor-cardigan
Summary: A letter from the past, a memo from the future, followed by a short narrative all to reinforce the importance of a vampire hunter's blood.
1. A letter from the past 1885

A Letter from Reinhardt Schneider to Rosa Stewart-Schneider  
  
My beloved,  
  
In response to your previous letter, I too miss you excruciatingly. These are shadowy jungles that I tread. Behind every bush, atop every tree, my prey could be awaiting. This place truly is the Dark Continent. At night while I hunt the beast, thoughts of you invade my mind. I know that when I am on the hunt I must keep my mind focused, but I feel as though I have been missing something for these past many months. The constant continent hopping trying to keep up with this monster has made me weary and homesick. I long for the moment when I can fall asleep in your arms and feel safe. When I have finished what I have set out to do, you and I will take a long holiday. We can go anywhere you want. Preferably an island isolated from the rest of humanity. If not, I will settle just for a moment's peace alone with you. Do you know that lately I have had a recurring dream? It is a dream, not a nightmare. You and I are walking along a beach shore. We hold each other's hand and we walk.  
  
Until that dream can be made a reality, let me offer you some consolation with a memory from my childhood. When I was five, my father once told me he had to take a long journey. I asked him where we were going. He said that this journey he must take without my mother or I. Why, I asked him. He said to me, "Where I must go is where no one else can go. What I must do, no one can do for me. It is a matter of blood." Soon after that he left on horseback with a cousin of his, Morris, a man named William Graves and another man whom I did not know. Although I did not know it at the time, together they rode to Dracula's castle. They were gone for days, weeks, perhaps even a month. I missed my father terribly during that time. Seeing how distraught I was, my mother each night said a prayer with me before going to bed. She told me that so long as I pray each night, my father would know that we were waiting for his return. Finally one night halfway through the second month my father returned. He and my cousin Morris had been riding for many days and were very tired. But do you know what my father said to me when we were alone? "I heard you. I heard your prayers." So now I ask you my love. Pray for me each night.  
  
Love,  
  
Reinhardt June 16, 1855 


	2. A Memo from the Future

To: Julius Belmont From: Duncan Bray Subject: Re: Research on the name "Belmont "  
  
Date: December 10, 2035  
  
As per your request I have begun my preliminary investigations into your hereditary name. Let me remind you that with a heritage stretching as far back as yours, I will need much time to gather data. It appears that your line can be traced as far back as the 1400s! As you asserted to me before your family has its origins in the nation formerly known as Romania, although your family predates its foundation. Throughout the ages your family name has featured some prominence in the myths, legends, and folklore of that land.  
  
My research has led me to the earliest member of your family, Leon Belmont, although further investigating might yield even earlier ones. Details are sketchy but some details of note are that he was a wealthy nobleman at the time. This seems to be one possible source of your current wealth.  
  
The name Belmont seems to have been passed from father to son throughout the years with seldom interruption. Whether by fate or luck, the Belmont family has produced relatively few women. The most significant seems to be the first, Sonia Belmont. In 1450 she managed to preserve the line as well as the name by siring a son without being married. The first schism appears to have been around the late 1500's when Christopher Belmont and his wife have three children. Being the only male child, Soleiyu passes on the Belmont last name, which persists until the late 1700's. At this point the Belmont name appears to die off with Richter Belmont. I have no current information of him siring any child. Soleiyu's sisters, Gertude and Ida, went on to marry into the Schneider and Baldwin family respectively. These two surnames persist for several generations, making the Schneider and the Baldwin's something like 2nd cousins. Eventually though, the Baldwin surname becomes Morris.  
  
My research has yet to yield a time frame for which one of your line takes up the Belmont name again. It is more than likely that at one point, someone just changed his or her last name legally in order to preserve the heritage. When I have completed my research I will forward you all pertinent documents.  
  
I hope my research will help to restore the gaps in your memory.  
  
Duncan Bray  
  
London School of Genealogy 


	3. Brothers in Blood

1885, the castle of Count Dracula high in the Carpathian Mountains  
  
"I do not love my father." Werner Schneider said simply. "Why should I? I never even knew him?"  
  
"Why is that?" The figure sitting on the ill lit throne said.  
  
"He died when I was young. You know that. Its partly your fault."  
  
"That is your point of view."  
  
A shackled figure tried to emerge from the darkness in which he was hidden in and cried out. "Don't listen to him, brother!"  
  
"I will listen to whoever I want, Michael. All my life I have had people telling me what I should do and what I should be like. Everyone tells me how great my father was, well I would not know. He died before I even had the pleasure! Some great father! I bet if the great Reinhardt Schneider had lived, he would have done the same lousy job everyone else has on me."  
  
Werner clutched the handle of the sheathed sword in his hand. "Even mother seemed to think I should be a vampire hunter. Well no thank you. I am not interested. All of this," Werner gestured with his hands the whole room, "and you" pointing at the figure on the throne, "are none of my business."  
  
"Your brother seems to think otherwise." The figure said as he stood up from the throne. In his hand he held a small glass filled with a red liquid. The man was young and handsome. He wore a pure black suit with a black cape whose interior was as red as the liquid he was drinking.  
  
"He would," Werner said. "You see he actually knew father. He is so into all this vampire hunter nonsense simply to preserve his memory. If he could snap out of his senses then he would get out of it. Henry has him brainwashed. Our sister Carrie doesn't help either. But she has her own thing, magic. It is all crazy if you ask me."  
  
The other man laughed as he circled Werner, "oh I agree absolutely."  
  
Werner stared into the other man's eyes. "What do you want?"  
  
"To be left alone."  
  
"Don't listen to him Werner! He is Dracula. This is the man who has been trying to destroy humanity for hundreds of years! He is trying to deceive you and divide us."  
  
"We already are divided, Michael. I am no part of this insane feud."  
  
"Allow me to speak in my own defense. If I am so evil, why do people keep bringing me back?" Count Dracula stood still and motioned with his arms open. "In fact I can remember certain times over the past hundred years when I would return to this plane of existence, and before I could gather my thoughts or even scratch my head, crack! A man with a whip was bearing down and threatening to kill me." Dracula continued to circle Werner. "Does that sound reasonable?"  
  
"What do you want?" Werner asked again.  
  
"Help me to end this feud."  
  
"How?"  
  
"Ask you brother to tell me where his friends are. That clever little boy that grew up to be a pain, Henry, has hidden himself and all his little students and vampire hunters to be. I want to know where to find them."  
  
"Anything else?"  
  
"Yes," Dracula smiled. He stopped circling Werner once more and walked slowly towards him. His hand reached out and unsheathed the sword in Werner's hands. "This was your father's sword was it not?"  
  
"Yes," Werner replied. "The bloodstains on the blade are his. Someone once used the sword against him and cut him very badly, so Michael tells me."  
  
"Good. I want you, after you have questioned you brother," Dracula came face to face with Werner and stared into his eyes without ever breaking his gaze, "I want you to run this sword through his heart."  
  
Werner remained stoic. "What if he does not answer?"  
  
"Kill.him.anyway."  
  
Werner took the sword from Dracula's hand and walked towards his brother Michael menacingly. "You are not going to tell me, are you, brother?"  
  
Michael was sweating profusely but clearly shook his head left to right. "You are damned if you do this. You betray mother, father, and me. You are about to betray your own blood!"  
  
Werner raised the sword above his head. "In case you had not realized, our blood was damned a long time ago." Werner then brought the sword down in a quick thrust but not on Michael. An inch away from his brother's neck he swung around and thrust the blade forwards and into Dracula. The look of astonishment on the vampire's face was further compounded when the stains of blood on the sword began to emanate a glow. Dracula began to howl monstrously. As he did so, Werner unshackled his brother and helped him run out of the chamber. Together the sped through the halls of the castle, lucky for them an average castle minus the usual death traps. As they ran a bright light chased them all the way through the castle until they were finally free. In the throne chamber Dracula stood up from the ground where he had fallen. He stared at his hands, which were oddly wrinkled and worn as though they had been at some menial work. Dracula struggled under the weight of his suddenly weak legs and walked towards his throne. When he had sat down, the vampire allowed his fingertips to run across his own face. For that moment Dracula was glad that vampires could cast no reflection in a mirror. He knew well what had happened. The cycle of revenge had now struck him. The curse of ancient blood that he had cast upon Reinhardt Schneider had come back to haunt him now. His own vampire blood was now doubly curse. The young and strong willed countenance that he had fought so hard to obtain had now been stolen from him. Now to restore his youthful appearance he would have to drink massive amounts of blood. That would have to suffice until he could counteract the curse. Dracula arose from his throne and wailed into the night.  
  
Michael and Werner had found some horses and begun riding away from the castle when they heard Dracula's cry. They now rode slowly in a direction that would return them home.  
  
"Did you know that was going to happen?" Michael asked Werner.  
  
Werner nodded. "When you disappeared suddenly, Henry suspected that it was Dracula's work. Henry guessed his plan. After all, I have never hidden my disregard for your crusade. It was logical to think that Dracula would try to use that to divide us. Divide and conquer."  
  
"Even after all this, you will not accept the destiny that is ours? Mine and yours."  
  
"Michael, it is true what I said back there. I have heard it all my life. The blood of the vampire hunter is damned to his legacy. I have spent the majority of my life trying not to be a vampire hunter. What today has taught me is that sometimes I will not always be able to escape it."  
  
FIN 


	4. Author's Notes2

Author's Notes  
  
Why am I here?  
  
I know. My last note made it seem like I was retiring. I thought I was but let me tell you. I was in a bad mood and I jumped the gun. I would sooner cut off my demonic infest evil hand before giving up writing Castlevania1 Forgive me and disregard any previous statements saying I was giving up Castlevania. Sorry.  
  
What is this doing here?  
For those of you who visit my site [long quiet pause. Birds chirping] you may have noticed a note that I am currently revising my first fic Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness. Why? To fix some errors, tighten up continuity between my stories completed/and in the works and with the Castlevania universe in general. This particular fic you just read I wrote in one day. Its purpose is to answer some questions that I felt needed answering. In the first place it explains the mess that Konami made by including not just one but TWO Dracula battles in between Symphony and LoD thus screwing my assertion that Drac needed a new body because Alucard kicked his vampire butt bad. This fic also explains why in Circle of the Moon the true heir to the whip is a Baldwin and in LoD its Schneider and how Nathan Graves fits in. My theory here [or at least my version in my universe] is that in 1822, 8 years before Circle, Morris Baldwin [age 35], Michael Schneider [age 34, Reinhardt's father], William Graves [a friend of Baldwin, father to Nathan], and possibly an elder Richter went to Drac's castle and whooped him ine more time. Eight years later an older Morris takes his son and his buddy's son, Nathan on an adventure to Drac's castle in CotM.  
  
Lastly, if you read my previous fic Blood Under the Moon [shame on you if you didn't] Dracula put a curse on Reinhardt's in order to make him age prematurely. IN this fic, Reinhardt's son, Werner, stabs Drac with a sword stained with Reinhardt's blood. This causes Drac to absorb the curse through the blood and thus making him age too. Thus 9 years later explaining why in Bram Stoker's novel, Drac is an old man who needs blood to look young again.  
  
Got it? No? Good!  
  
Remember to read my other fics for the full story Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness Castlevania Tales: Lost Blood Castlevania Tales: Thy Brother's Keeper [it needs some love you know, only like 2 reviews!] Castlevania Tales: Blood Under the Moon  
  
For questions e-mail me: victor_cardigan@yahoo.com 


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